Of JACK-o-Lanterns and Waiting Rooms
by SabbyStarlight
Summary: A small accident leaves Mac and Jack spending Halloween night in the waiting room of the local ER.


**Happy Halloween, y'all! Two posts in one day, it's a Halloween miracle! This is just a quick little piece brotherly banter for today, because someone needs to remind the writers that Jack can be a big loveable goofball without turning into a bumbling idiot who can't do his job. I don't want him to stop being funny, his humor is one of my favorite parts of the show, but I think they tend to forget just how badass of a soldier he's supposed to be. Anyway, rant over. Hope you enjoy!**

Mac and Jack sat side by side in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs. At least they had seats now, Mac thought. The emergency room had been so crowded when they had first walked in that they had been left standing for almost an hour before two seats emptied up.

"This sucks, man." Jack complained, not nearly for the first time since walking through the doors. "We've been here for hours."

"What did you expect?" Mac asked. "It's Halloween night in LA, Jack. Of course the ER is crazy tonight."

Jack glanced around the room, taking in the vast array of people who, like him, were spending Halloween night in the packed room. Instead of the horror movie marathon Bozer had promised them he was stuck watching some weird cartoon movie with pumpkins dancing to Michael Jackson music. The one character did sound a little bit like Mac though, Jack thought.

"I can't believe you drug me here." Jack pouted.

"And I can't believe you nearly sliced your hand in two trying to carve a pumpkin." Mac replied.

"Whatever." Jack said. "I still say there was somethin' wrong with that damn gourd."

"Yeah. The pumpkin was the problem." Mac rolled his eyes. "You trying to carve it with your tactical knife had nothing to do with it."

"Hey those stupid little plastic things that came with the stencils are for kids. Says so right on the package." Jack reminded him. "Ages four and up."

"Those things don't have an age limit." Mac pointed out. "Just because you're supposed to be a certain age to use it doesn't mean you have to stop using them once you're past that number."

"Doesn't mean a grown man is gonna use a plastic knife to carve a pumpkin either." Jack grumbled, wincing as he rolled his injured hand around on his lap.

"You know, maybe we're both wrong. It wasn't the knife OR the pumpkin." Mac pressed on, seeing Jack's wince of pain and trying to distract him. "Maybe the issue was that instead of actually using those stencils, or even trying to carve a face or a bat, you know, something vaguely Halloweenish, you were trying to write your name.

"Dude." Jack turned to the younger man. "You don't get it. Jack. I was making a JACK-o-lantern."

Mac cracked a tired smile. "I get it, Jack. And the first twelve jokes you made about it were actually kinda funny. The humor ran out though, when you started bleeding all over my kitchen."

"Yeah, sorry about that. And I'm sorry you're stuck spendin' Halloween night here waitin' on me to get sewed up." Jack continued.

"There's worse ways to spend an evening." Mac assured, softly bumping his shoulder into Jack's. "I mean, I can't think of any, but I'm sure they're out there."

"Shut up." Jack said with a fond smile. "You know all this would be solved if you would've taken me to Phoenix Med like I told ya to."

"You can't go to work's infirmary with a non-work related injury." Mac reminded him. "That's one of the few rules they actually enforce. And with as many infractions of our's they let slide, we really shouldn't press our luck."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Jack agreed. "It's just takin' forever. And to be honest, this really does hurt."

"I bet it does." Mac agreed sympathetically as he glanced down to Jack's hand which had been hurriedly wrapped in a dish towel. Bozer's favorite Jack Skellington towel, to be exact, Mac noticed. Damn. That was going to be a pain to replace.

"You should be soon." Mac said, glancing around the crowded room. "Everyone else that was here when we first came has already been called back."

"Yeah like that kid whose mom swore had the stomach flu?" Jack asked with a scowl. "Did you see the chocolate smeared all over that boy's face? Only thing wrong with him was he ate too much sugar. And that took priority over the man bleeding to death out here."

"You're not bleeding to death." Mac said with a roll of his eyes. "Look." He nodded towards a nurse entering the waiting room with a clipboard. "I bet she's calling you back next."

Sure enough, the woman in orange and black scrubs called Jack's name a few seconds later. Both men stood up.

"You're coming?" Jack asked, turning towards his partner.

"Yeah." Mac said. "Might as well." He knew his partner's bravado tended to fade quickly when needles were involved.

"Well let's get this show on the road." Jack said, making his way through the maze of waiting room chairs. "Let's get this done so we can head back home and I can finish my pumpkin."

"Seriously?" Mac asked. "You want a repeat of all this?"

Jack's only response was a wink.

Mac quickly sent out a text to Bozer telling him to hide all the knives in the house, just to be safe.

 **Happy Halloween!**


End file.
